Seized 2276 - rebuild advice please

[55rag]

I spent my summer vacation pulling my fairly new expensive to me motor and replace it with my backup 1914, Argg.

I took my bug out for a short drive and while coming home the motor died on me. I have oil pressure and temp gauges and everything was running good as usual but the motor stopped and would not turn over. Brought it home and pulled the motor to find the main crank bearing seized to the crank. It pulled the case dowel with it when it seized. I'm still not sure what happened because oil looked like brand new and all other parts looked good.

I need advice on how to go about a rebuild. I bought this 2276 as a "cheap" build from a reputable guy but it felt a little underpowered to me to begin with and since it only has around 1k miles on it I am a little disappointed. I'm going to rebuild myself and hopefully make some improvements as well.

Here's what the current engine came with. I'll need a crank and case at minimum:
Empi "stage 2" heads" (I measured 42 x 37mm valves. D port intake)
AA 94mm stroker pistons (look to be in great shape still. I do have Mahle's in a box)
82mm reground crank (unknown brand)
5.4 rods (unmarked brand)
FK8 cam (cam and lifters look good. Cam is marked FK7 and
Straight cut gears (unknown brand but ran pretty quiet)
1.4 rockers (rockers all look the same but the center spacers are from Autocraft and JSC)
30mm oil pump
Empi 44's
A1 1.5" sidewinder

I'm looking for more power and obviously a lot more reliability. Overall I'd like to have an easy to tune and drive motor, I'm not looking for peak power or drag racing.

What is the best route to take and still reuse what I can? Here's my shopping list so far:
CB 82mm crank
New AS41 case
Weber 48 IDF's
A1 1 3/4 sidewinder (previous exhaust is staying on backup engine)

Thanks for the suggestions,
Jason

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55 ragtop bug
67 Ghia vert
85 911
18 GTI
Some beat up British bikes

[Pruneman99]

1,000 miles and it's seized? What did the builder say? Did you get an outta sight warranty??

[55rag]

I know....I bought the motor about 3 years ago. I actually had some problems with from the beginning and the builder took care of it. It had a flat cam and a screw fall out from the butterfly. I am pretty sure he's not going to take care of it this time. My fault for not driving it enough really.
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55 ragtop bug
67 Ghia vert
85 911
18 GTI
Some beat up British bikes

[Pruneman99]

Oh 3 years.. yeah it's yours now. Sorry to hear that. That kind of seizure is usually too tight bearing clearances. Probably thrust was set too tight.

Can't save the case? Or do you just want to start fresh?

No name crank is probably cast. No name rods are probably just the cheapest chinese stuff the builder could get.

I guess this is the cheapest part is the most expensive part..

From what I can see of your car, it looks very nice! It deserves a nice engine!

[55rag]

Yep, that cheap stuff sure is expensive. The reason I went with this engine is because I had been dreaming of building an engine for 5 years and it was never going to get built. I actually had a type 4 in mind years ago and had ceramic lifters and nikosil barrels as well as some other parts but realized it would never happen so I sold all the parts.

This time I'd like to build it myself and maybe have a mid level engine that I can enjoy. The bug is a nice driver. It would have been cut up when I bought it about 30 years ago. Not a show car but it definitely deserves a nice motor. Thanks

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55 ragtop bug
67 Ghia vert
85 911
18 GTI
Some beat up British bikes

[evanfrucht]

Did the dowel pin completely destroy the bearing saddle or is the hole just oval? If it is just oval it can be drilled for an oversize stepped pin. Also it's possible a good machinist could fix it another way too if it's worse, maybe adding a new hole to the bearing and case in a different spot? Basically I just wondering what makes you certain the case is done?

Also I'm pretty sure the Empi cranks come from the same factory as CB's do and they can be had about 100 bucks cheaper, just FYI.

Have the whole rotating assembly balanced, incase it wasn't done well or at all before.

I might put a new cam in of of my choosing, they are cheap and it's fun to decide that part of the build. Something like the FK8 would be good for what you want, but there is alot of small difference and variation between "similar" grinds. I like Web Cam for whatever reason.

The rest of the parts seem decent enough to use. It gets easy to spend more money upgrading things so you just have to decide when to stop.
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1967 Bug ( the daily rod )
1964 Fury Wagon ( the pavement shredder )

[esde]

[evanfrucht]

I'm just saying that I'm pretty postive they are the exact same crank. I would not use most Empi parts but the cranks they sell are good. Sorry not 100 bucks, 40 bucks http://carcraftstore.com/chromolycounterweightedcrankshafts.aspx

I'm pretty sure the only difference between say an Empi Rod vs a CB Rod, or a Empi crank vs a CB crank, or an Empi flywheel vs CB flywheel is that CB sell them for money becuase they spend a little extra time to balance those parts in house and stamp there name on it. My machinist said the Empi one was already in perfect balance right out of the box so you aren't even paying for anything in that case.

I like some of the CB stuff, don't get me wrong. I like what they do with heads and oil pumps, etc.

IMO it makes more sense to just get your rotating assembly parts together and have them all balanced at once. And also not waste money where unnecessary
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1967 Bug ( the daily rod )
1964 Fury Wagon ( the pavement shredder )

[55rag]

The dowel hole in the case was ovalled and lifted. The case doesn't look that good to begin with and I'm not sure how much it's been machined so I'll start with a fresh case for sure. I have been around for awhile and I think Empi has been improving over the years but I still have an aversion to using their parts for my engine.

I think the main question I have is regarding the heads, exhaust and carb sizing. How are those Empi heads?

Thanks
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55 ragtop bug
67 Ghia vert
85 911
18 GTI
Some beat up British bikes

[evanfrucht]

The Empi heads are not the worst but it's not where they shine either. I'm not super familiar with them.

AA castings are good are good and cheap but they need porting and valve work, which can get expensive to have done properly. Pretty sure that Tim's Perfomance Workshop (very well known/regarded vw head porter) uses those castings.

CB has a lot of good ready to run heads. I also like Beehive valve springs. You could look into a TF-1 case. Again... it gets expensive.

I would say just run the Empi heads unless you're ready to spend about $1200+ on new heads. The new heads would be "better" than what you have but not by that much.

IMO a 1⅝" exhaust would be better. What you have sounds a tad too big for street use. I would also save yourself about grand and get the AA Perfomance sidewinder. They fit great. It's a very good quality copy of the A1. For about $350 you could have yourself a beautiful and complete stainless exhaust system that is basically bulletproof. Then with all the money you saved buy a fancy muffler
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1967 Bug ( the daily rod )
1964 Fury Wagon ( the pavement shredder )

[Pruneman99]

The last 4340 EMPI 76mm crank I measured was just about perfect, and the machinist said it was near perfect for balance.

The 5.5 I beam rods were a bit rough on the parting lines and the threads needed to be chased. The weight was pretty darn close though.

[modok]

CB conrods are finished IN HOUSE, and they do a great job IMO

But I don't think the cranks are, and sorry to say I don't think they are any better than buying the crank elsewhere.
Last 5 years or so.... empi cranks got very nice but who knows if they will stay that way.

[ekacpuc]

Carcraft has some nice sidewinders for a good price. I used one and liked it until I started working until 4am..

I ran a 1 5/8” exhaust on a 2275 and do now with my 2332. The 2275 had a web86b (would take one over a K8 any day) and my current 2332 has a #252 from Dan with 266 @ .050. Both will drive like stock until I put my foot in it. Super torquey and keeps pulling. I haven’t reved the 252 much past 6000 rpm but so far I like it more than the 86b.

No idea what the empi heads flow but the heads are where the fun comes from. I use tims stage 2 on both motors and have been happy.

The cheap parts cost the most in the end. 4340 cranks all seem about the same though.. unless you go scat then they have a groove in the mains that is nice.

[74 Thing]

New heads and ported manifolds

[croSSeduP]

[Alstrup]

Yeah, there are a few things that catches the eye.
The Empi GTV2 heads are really copies of the DRD L6, and they are terrible performance wice. (It is a problem with the entire series of "L" heads, now GTV heads.) On a turbo engine they would be ok.
The cam. If it says FK7/FK8 it makes the situation even worse. If it says FK8/FK7 it would be significantly better.

As already suggested, new cam, new heads, - choose the performance window youre after. Then you can decide whether you need larger carbs and exhaust.

Apparently you bought a turd. Now you must pay for it, twice.
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https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=435993

[evanfrucht]

[55rag]

I went out to take a pic of my cam and found that I don't have straight cut gears as mentioned earlier. No wonder they were quiet. Anyway, can anyone tell from the pic if this is an FK8 cam?

Thanks
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55 ragtop bug
67 Ghia vert
85 911
18 GTI
Some beat up British bikes

[Pruneman99]

[Alstrup]

No, its a regular FK7 cam. The other numbers are production ID´s.
No wonder it was tame in the first place.
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https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=435993